Slamdance Winners Announced

Last night, the winners of the Slamdance Film Festival were announced. The Grand Jury Prize on the narrative side was awarded to Matt Johnson’s The Dirties, arguably the buzz title of the festival, in which two teens set out to make a movie about the bullies who are making their lives a misery. In the doc section, the main award went to Nicole Teeny’s Bible Quiz, about a lovelorn teen hoping to win the National Bible Quiz Championship and the love of her team captain, which stood out to a jury which included Filmmaker‘s own Dan Schoenbrun. The audience awards for narrative and doc went to James Duff’s Hank and Asha and Jason Banker, Jorge Torres-Torres and Tiffany Sudela-Junker’s My Name is Faith, respectively.

This year’s Slamdance Narrative Grand Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Nancy Schafer, Meira Blaustein and Chris Gore.Grand Jury Sparky Award for Feature Narrative: THE DIRTIES by Matt Johnson. “Terrifyingly timely and brutally honest, ‘The Dirties’ uses film references to the extreme as dreams of youth and intense growing pains collide.”

Special Mention: JOY DE V., byNadia Szold. “Filled with humor, flawless characters and performances and a highly developed visual style, ‘Joy de V’ is a film that signals the arrival of a powerful new filmmaking talent.”GRAND JURY AWARDS — DOCUMENTARY
This year’s Slamdance Documentary Grand Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Daniel J. Harris, Brian Knappenberger, and Dan Schoenbrun.

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Feature Documentary: BIBLE QUIZ by Nicole Teeny. “Director Nicole Teeny’s careful storytelling and her subject’s passion, angst, and youthful uncertainty are captured with universal empathy.”Grand Jury Sparky Award for Short Documentary: THE BIRDMAN by Jessie Auritt. “We felt this slice-of-life portrait said a lot about the economy and changing way of life in a New York City neighborhood.”GRAND JURY AWARDS — SHORT FILMS

This year’s Short Film Grand Jury Prizes were selected by the esteemed panel of industry members Sheri Candler, Eleanor Burke, and Ron Eyal.

Grand Jury Sparky Award for Animation: I AM TOM MOODY by Ainslie Henderson. “For its insight and for its playful spirit.”